6.08.2011

The 52 First Issues *I* Would Publish

I’m not the first to do this, but I’ll certainly be in the first wave of bloggers to do so. Here are the 52 new titles I’d launch if I could. I think it’s a pretty healthy mix of some of the existing ideas, with some complete departures I’d like to see. Some are super plausible, some not so much, but it’s sort of one of those dreamcasting projects that often yields interesting discussion. This is largely off the top of my head and beyond #13 or so, not really in any particular order. There's no bad ideas in brainstorming!

1) Action Comics by George Perez (sorry, but this would be one of just two titles not switching to the renumbering and allowed to continue for honorary purposes, we just have to get it to a “natural” #1,000, would alter the trade dress to look like all the other “new” titles though, love the idea of George Perez on the general property, but would switch him to this title instead of the main Superman book since we’ll have the need for plenty of guest stars in the Superman corner of NuDCU, Perez has been around long enough to warrant a stint as writer as well, this is an adventure book)

2) Detective Comics by Greg Rucka & Davide Gianfelice (see above re: numbering, must reach #1,000, this is a hard core crime book, loads of guest stars, the companion to the superhero Batman book, as Action Comics will be the companion title to Superman, think Rucka on Gotham Central and Gianfelice’s gritty style as seen in Northlanders and Greek Street)

3) Superman by Brian K. Vaughan & Tony Harris (the big superhero book with primary focus on Kal-El, not the ensemble that Action Comics will be, big and iconic, the team is now free from Ex Machina duties and that 50 issue run)

4) Supergirl by Brian Wood & Ryan Kelly (I know BW is no longer exclusive at DC and was worked out of the relaunch (lame!), but speaking purely as a fan, this project really needs to happen, so as long as we’re dreamcasting I can do whatever I want, this will be accessible to young women, yet strong enough to contend with the big superhero titles the boys like)

6) Batman Inc. by Grant Morrison & Chris Burnham (ok, I too want to see G’Mo finally wrap up his take on the character after 6 years or so, this should be the 12 issue maxi-series, ala All Star Superman, that finally is the definitive take on the character, if Burnham isn’t on board, then I’m not interested)

7) Batman & Robin by Kurt Busiek & Scott McDaniel (kids book, Bruce as Batman, Damian as Robin, Talia shows up with Ra’s Al Ghul, lots of father and son stuff, high octane poignancy, see Busiek’s coming of age book Arrowsmith)

8) Red Robin & The Outsiders by Peter J. Tomasi & Kenneth Rocafort (I sort of like Tim staying on as Red Robin since Damian will be regular Robin, Bruce will be Bats, and Dick will return to the Nightwing role, this should be the relatively dark and grim one, I actually kinda’ dug the whole Red Hood, Arsenal, Starfire casting of Red Hood & The Outlaws, but felt it needed some tweaks, should serve as the counterpoint to the relatively cheery Teen Titans)

9) Oracle by Gail Simone & Carla Speed McNeil (sorry, but I think Babs is infinitely more interesting as Oracle, why have Batgirl when we’ll have a Batwoman?, would like to see her as the primary information broker in the DCU, story arcs with lots of rotating guest stars from all these other titles)

10) Nightwing by John Cassaday (since DC wants to let artists wet their hands at writing, let him write it too, I actually don’t mind the costume redesign with the red parts, Dick Grayson is probably my favorite mainstream character, so don't fuck it up please)

13) Justice League International by J.M. DeMatteis & Kevin Maguire (love the idea of a JLI title, but the creative team really needed shaking up)

14) Justice League: Dark by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang (I’m ok with the title and think it makes sense to house all the “magic, science, and religion” types here, rotating cast depending on missions, Swamp Thing, Deadman, The Spectre, all those clowns, but Traci 13 must be the team leader forever or I’m out, gotta’ reprise the Dr. 13: Architecture & Mortality creative team too)

15) Teen Titans by Nick Spencer & Kevin O’Neill (Spencer is proving himself on team books and the gravitas of the art should sell this one, still need to work out the specific team members, but you get the idea)

16) Planetary by Brian Wood & Danijel Zezelj (a long shot considering the property and creative team, but there’s nobody I’d rather trust with a Warren Ellis legacy property and with Zezelj’s murky style on art, and their proven collaborations, this would take it all new places, with the universes effectively merged, there’s no limit to what types of missions/investigations the team can have)

17) Wildcats by Christopher Priest & Eduardo Risso (yep, WildStorm in the house in a very noir way, Grifter, Voodoo, Spartan, Zealot, the whole gang, show 'em how it's done guys)

18) Doom Patrol by Joe Casey & Sean Murphy (these two can go crazy in all the unexplored corners of the NuDCU, psychedelic pop comics in Murphy’s kinetic and dangerous style)

19) Elongated Man & Plastic Man: Stretching Logic by Noah Van Sciver (kids book, title might still need some work, but these two need to team up for ridiculous adventures with this indie talent)

20) Kamandi: The Last Man on Earth by Paul Jenkins & Jae Lee (while everyone else has gotten younger in the NuDCU, Kamandi has been aging in the apocalyptic future, he is now the last MAN on Earth, reunite the Inhumans team of Jenkins and Lee for the right look and feel)

21) Solo IIby Various (quarterly, lots of pages, creator spotlight just like the first, it will lose money, but it’s a commitment by DC to creators because the properties shouldn’t solely come first)

23) Birds of Prey by Paul Cornell & Yanick Paquette (I’m a little dubious about the need for this book, but let’s give it a go, the roster needs work and Manhunter needs to be on the team, limit interaction with Oracle to distinguish titles, Cornell has been on my radar since Pete Wisdom and MI-13, and Paquette has done some good X-Men work)

24) John Constantine by Kody Chamberlain & R.M. Guera (hot off of Sweets, DC should sign Chamberlain before Marvel does, and Guera has more than proven himself on Jason Aaron’s Scalped)

25) Tiny Titans by Whoever Does It Now (if it ain’t broke…)

26) Aquaman by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis (I could really care less, so we’ll let this one stand and see how she goes)

27) Flash by Geoff Johns & Kyle Baker (hopefully Geoff can keep up on the writing chores of so many books and his executive duties, because I really want to see Baker pencil this in the style he used for Hawkman in Wednesday Comics)

28) Green Lantern by Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy (fine, I’m not changing this either, because apparently the market has spoken and will support such nonsense, but this should be the main Hal Jordan, primarily Earth-based book, because…)

29) Green Lantern Corps by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely (swiped from some Wednesday Comics dreamcasting I did a while back, Drunken Scotsman will need something to do since I booted him off almost everything else, this should be bizarre psychedelic space adventure, ala John Stewart in Green Lantern: Mosaic, I expect it to cross paths with Paul Pope’s New Gods to get supremely weird)

30) Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang (really the only keeper from the actual relaunch that I like the creative team and am excited to be purchasing, at least for three issues, can’t think of any other team that would really make me long for Wonder Woman)

31) Jonah Hex by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning & Simon Gane (I’m as surprised as the next guy that there remains a market for Hex, but DnA are versatile and Jordi Bernet should be brought in for rotating arcs with Gane, his work on Northlanders was breathtaking)

32) Blackhawk by Kevin Nowlan (he’s done just about everything else, so here’s another instance where we’ll let an artist try his hand at writing)

33) Shazam! by Neil Gaiman & Ryan Sook (not a kids book, Gaiman can sort out the magic bits no doubt and Sook will bring in the right gravitas)

34) The New Gods by Paul Pope (self-explanatory, but let him run wild with weird Kirby style sci-fi futurism)

35) House of Mystery by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray & Tom Neely (infusion of indie art talent with reliable writing duo, throwing the old DC fans a bone, should have a very EC Comics feel, swiped from my recent Wednesday Comics dreamcasting)

36) House of Secrets by Devin Grayson & Julia Gfrorer (infusion of indie talent with MIA female writer, expect The Endless to show up a lot here, more ethereal than the pragmatism of the above title, also swiped like the above idea)

37) Atom & Hawkman by Karl Kerschl & Juan Jose Ryp (I actually like this character pairing, and it’s another example of trying to placate older fans who will complain that we’re ruining everything, The Atom portion was swiped from my Wednesday Comics idea, but I added Hawkman here to round out the use of characters)

38) Zatanna by Darwyn Cooke & Riccardo Burchielli (rogue magi, she’s not interested in the team up of JL: Dark, lots of tension, crossovers with John Constantine)

39) Firestorm by Chuck Dixon & Nathan Fox (loud crazy action, garish colors, he's friends with Blue Beetle, also… when not powered up, the new Firestorm is a wheelchair bound teenager, a gay Filipino kid from LA, parents have $, college educated, let’s just get all of the character diversity issues out of the way at once)

42) Legion Lost by Mark Waid & Joe Quinones (really pushing for a reinvigoration of the Legion, nice to see NuDCU embrace the idea and while the “Legion Lost” title isn’t new, it’s a solid one, Waid has the chops to handle continuity and cast, and Quinones’ slick style should keep up nicely)

46) Mister Terrific by Scott Snyder & Sergio Cariello (I’m actually kind of interested to see what can be done with this character on a solo title, this is a proven writer, and Cariello is now free since his Dynamite book The Lone Ranger has wrapped)

49) Captain Atom by Christos Gage & Travis Charest (the artist selection is a long shot, but if it could be done, would certainly be a destination book)

50) Grifter by Jason Aaron & Mario Alberti (the choice of writer seems golden, though I’m not sure how you’d pull him from Marvel for a company owned property, and Alberti’s sly work on the X-Men/Spider-Man stuff was inspiring)

51) Voodoo by Dave Gibbons (hey, I have a soft spot for this Wildcat, was surprised to see DC giving it a go, but I’d let Gibbons write and draw it for as long as he wanted)

52) DC: Silver Age Adventures by Darwyn Cooke (the final bone I’ll throw to the whiners, endless mining of prior continuity, yes, those stories still “matter” and can be used for entertainment, think The New Frontier, only monthly)